Need for Speed Underground 2 Review

Date: 7/20/2005

Need for Speed Underground 2 (NFSU2) takes street racing, well, to the
streets. While its predecessor featured plenty of street racing action, NFSU2
removed the between race menus and instead sets you free to drive the streets of
the city. Events and special locations are marked by color-coded icons on the
game’s map and to activate them you simply need to drive to them. You can make
your way to these locations by keeping an eye on the mini-map, or better yet you
can use the game’s excellent GPS navigation feature. When enabled, the GPS will
display a large arrow on the screen indicating the direction you need to travel
to get to where you want to go. The really cool thing about it is that it points
out the turns you should make to take the shortest route to your destination
rather than empty-headedly pointing to the destination directly. You have to
drive to your destination and not fly there, after all, and the GPS will get you
there and eliminate all of the wrong turns and dead-ends inherent with the
destination pointer in most games that let you drive the city streets. What a
concept – a navigation system that actually navigates. I love it.

The city in which the game is set is called Bayview and the developers have
done a good job of giving the fictional city a distinct character. The city is
divided into five neighborhoods, each with its own character, be it ritzy,
industrial, or dense urban. Each area is meticulously modeled and looks
fantastic – so good in fact that you’ll be tempted to pass on the racing for a
little bit to give yourself time to sightsee around the city.

That’s the good side of the city, and like real cities everything is not so
perfect beneath the surface. As you’re driving the streets you’ll see only light
traffic and there aren’t any pedestrians in sight. The city can almost feel
lifeless at times. When you reach a race icon or secret location in the city
you’re rewarded with a floating icon hovering above a hotspot. Even though you
may have just pulled up to the start of an illegal street race, there are no
cars, people, or anything else around – all that’s there is the lifeless icon.
When you reach the icon you’re given the option of racing or not. Selecting the
race button will take you to the race, but the race does not take place where
you found the icon. This causes a bit of a disconnect with the illusion of an
open city – you may drive under an overpass to activate an icon, but when the
race begins the bridge is nowhere in sight. Lastly, the city is a victim of
product placement gone mad. The billboards sport ads for real companies and
you’ll notice real retailer and food chains spread across the city. While you
can say that this lends an air of realism to the city, it’s really just another
way to cram more advertising into your leisure time. Seriously, do you really
need to get in-game messages from a national cellular carrier branded phone?